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I agree that weight is a large part of the speed difference between the DW32 and the Skater 318. I think the huge windshield on Steve's 318 is also slowing him down a lot. I've heard Darren's DW weighs 4,800 dry, and I know Steve's 318 weighs 5,500 dry. That difference alone is about 5-6mph. Add another 3-4mph loss for the much larger windshield on Steve's 318, and you've now got the boats running very similar speed. Not knocking Darren's DW at all, that boat is BADASS, and the fastest 30'+ outboard pleasure cat in the US, but I don't feel it's as much hull design difference as it is other factors. And as for your 30 Ron, I agree that it would easily run high teens if you bolted 400Rs on the transom. Might even go faster than that!

Spot on brother! We may have to compare notes someday! If you know what I mean

The reason I ask Noli, is because there is no data to prove that just a widened tunnel gains any speed. The wide tunnel outboard cats you see that are fast - DW32s, all the X-Cats - are faster because they also have narrower sponsons along with the wider tunnel. If you just take a standard outboard cat - Skater 28/30, Spectre 30/32, etc - and widen the tunnel 8'-12", the boat is not necessarily going to gain speed. It will be more stable in the rough, because of the wider stance, but it won't necessarily gain any speed. I just talked to Pete about this yesterday, and it's what we both agreed on - and he's been widening tunnels on race boats for 20 years now. Look at LOTO, Garth's classic 36 went within just a few mph as fast as Chip's 388 did a few years back, with PSI blower motors from the same engine builder. Not only does the 388 have a wider tunnel, but is also cut down for better aerodynamics, and has a more modern, faster bottom. Don't be surprised if the widened 30 is no faster, or even slower, than the standard tunnel width 30. And I'm saying this presuming that the only difference between the two boats is the widened tunnel - sponsons are identical.

That is a mile long course, if the distance was a half mile, then the wider boat would stand out. Doug picked up drastic lap time gains but only a few mph on top with the first generation 62" tunnel Vs' the old 54". The stability factor of a 62" or 54" DW Vs an older narrow 32 skater is one end of the scale to the other. This new 32 design will be fun to watch when its finally done. I just spent 8 days at lake Cumberland with an 05' 32 inboard skater and realized how far things have come in the last 10 years.